Indian-Spiced Beets

I went almost a month without making a new recipe. Must be some kind of record! The plan was to go three months, ha. I’m in the midst of kitchen and hip renovations, so I froze three months of dinners ahead of time. No cooking for me during the no-kitchen, no-weight-bearing period. Until all of a sudden, I just had to have beets. I can’t help it, I had to!

It’s been a warm fall so far, and there are still some veggies in my garden. Among them are some gorgeous beets. Right across from the beets were some equally beautiful jalapeños, so one of those had to go in. Well, when I say “one of those,” I mean “part of one.” I know from the past couple of months that my jalapeños this year are hot; even more so for having fully ripened to red. No sense burning our tongues to the point of not being able to taste anything. We were having Dal for dinner, so I poked around online looking for ideas to go with that. NYT Cooking and Epicurious had what looked like versions of the same recipe; I’ve adapted mine from those. These beets were so delicious, I almost forgot to eat the dal! My mental wheels are even now spinning with ideas of how I can turn this into a one-bowl Meatless Monday recipe. For now, though, this is my new favorite beet recipe!

These beets are a variety called Cylindra. They’re an excellent choice for gardening in a limited space because they grow twice as long as they are wide — you get double the beet without taking up any more room. I used two of them, about two inches by four. For regular round beets, go with four two-inch ones. This makes a generous amount of sauce, so you could easily go with a couple more beets if you wanted to.

The most common way to cook beets is to roast them whole and unpeeled. After cooking, the skins slide right off. To roast, scrub beets under running water and cut away the greens. Wrap each beet tightly in foil and pop them in a preheated 400℉ oven for 45 minutes to an hour. Or you can cook them whole in your Instant Pot if you have one. With a cup of water in the inner pot, place the scrubbed, trimmed, unpeeled beets on the trivet, lock the lid, and close the steam vent. Cook for 10 – 15 minutes on high pressure, then quick-release the pressure. I don’t really have a place to park hot beets while I slide the skins off right now, nor did I feel like letting them cool in order to skin them and then having to heat them back up. That method feels like an extra step to me anyway, and the outside of the beet always seems overcooked in comparison with the center. Plus I like to cook things with seasoning right from the outset. I opted to peel and chop first and then microwave. When I’m only cooking for two, I don’t find peeling beets to be particularly onerous. I used food service gloves to keep from turning myhands beet red, and a paper bowl to make the sauce while the beets cooked. Pretty easy!

You’ll find a printer-friendly version of the recipe at the bottom of this page.

Ingredients:

2 large or 4 small (2”) beets

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

¼ tsp kosher salt, divided

⅛ tsp brown mustard seeds

⅛ tsp ground coriander

⅛ tsp ground cumin

½ clove garlic

2 Tbsp plain Greek yogurt

2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

¼ jalapeño (red or green), minced

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

1 tsp lime juice

1 Tbsp pomegranate arils

Preparation:

1.) Peel the beets and cut them into one-inch pieces. Place the beet chunks in a microwave-safe dish. Drizzle with oil, turn to coat.

2.) In a small prep bowl, mix the mustard seeds, coriander, cumin, and ⅛ tsp of the salt.

3.) Sprinkle the spice mixture over the beets. Cover the dish with plastic wrap poked with a couple of steam vent holes. Microwave on the vegetable setting. This was about 2½ minutes on my microwave, but they do vary.

4.) While the beets cook, mince the garlic. Sprinkle with the remaining ⅛ tsp of salt. Using the edge of your knife laid almost flat, mash and scrape the garlic and salt into a paste. Mine is pink because I mashed it in the same spot on the cutting board that I used to chop the beets.

5.) Mince the jalapeño and grate the ginger.

6.) In a small bowl, mix together the yogurt, garlic paste, chopped cilantro, minced jalapeño, grated ginger, and lime juice.

7.) When the beets are fork-tender, stir in the yogurt mixture. Sprinkle with pomegranate arils to serve.

Directions

1.) Peel the beets and cut them into one-inch pieces. Place the beet chunks in a microwave-safe dish. Drizzle with oil, turn to coat.
2.) In a small prep bowl, mix the mustard seeds, coriander, cumin, and ⅛ tsp of the salt.
3.) Sprinkle the spice mixture over the beets. Cover the dish with plastic wrap poked with a couple of steam vent holes. Microwave on the vegetable setting. This was about 2½ minutes on my microwave, but they do vary.
4.) While the beets cook, mince the garlic. Sprinkle with the remaining ⅛ tsp of salt. Using the edge of your knife laid almost flat, mash and scrape the garlic and salt into a paste.
5.) Mince the jalapeño and grate the ginger.
6.) In a small bowl, mix together the yogurt, garlic paste, chopped cilantro, minced jalapeño, grated ginger, and lime juice.
7.) When the beets are fork-tender, stir in the yogurt mixture.
Sprinkle with pomegranate arils to serve.